


Alone at the lodge

by Madame de flammes (owlaholic68)



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, One Shot, Spoilers, The Adventure Zone: Amnesty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 11:20:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14259846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaholic68/pseuds/Madame%20de%20flammes
Summary: A quiet night for Aubrey.





	Alone at the lodge

Aubrey’s room at the lodge includes a small balcony. After a shower and a change of clothes, she sits out in the cool night. Her hair flops over one side of her face, still dripping.

The forest stretches out before her, almost close enough to touch, like her dangling feet are almost brushing the tops of the trees, like she could reach down with an easy motion and tear a handful of pine needles from the trees.

But she’s also so high above the rest of the lodge and the ground, high enough that she can look over Kepler. The lodge below is lit ( _hell yeah,_ she thinks with a half-hearted grin), the windows letting out a warm yellow light from the lamps within. Further around the building, she can hear a few voices from the hot springs, the tang of sulfur on the wind. Down in the lobby, she can see Mama talking to Barclay, gesturing exasperatedly.

There’s something about being outside while everyone else is inside that awakens something in her heart, like someone’s poking at her shoulder from far away. Even Dr. Harris Bonkers is inside her warm room. She can hear him shuffling around, and it makes her feel even colder.

This late at night, the moon is high above and bright. Aubrey thinks of the moon as a painter at times like this, taking up its thin brush and dabbing bits of silver on the treetops, swiping large glittering streaks across branches and tufts of pine needles.

Somewhere out there is the Gate. Somewhere out there is the clearing where she first saw the Abomination. Where they took down the Beast. Aubrey remembers the terror that had gripped her heart upon looking into those unearthly eyes, upon feeling the pressure of controlling her new-found magic so it didn’t hurt the other members of her party.

They were not simply her companions, though. They were her friends now.

And they’ll have to do that again. They’ll have to fight again, put themselves in danger to protect the people of Kepler, to protect everyone.

That’s not the part that Aubrey’s worried about, though. She’s cool with that. She’s done it before, she’ll do it again.

It’s moments like these that she dreads. The pockets of time tucked away between the missions, the seconds and minutes and hours where she has no purpose. It’s the quietness, the silence that worms into her ears and makes cricket sounds where there are none, sets the pine trees rustling in the absence of wind. It’s the tap-tap-tap of her fingers on the wood of the balcony. Her bare fingers, her white gloves left on the desk in the room. There’s no fire out here, just the inky night sky and the warm glow of the lodge.

Aubrey sighs and rests her head against the wooden railing. Her bare feet dangle, swinging slowly. She glances over her shoulder at her bed.

Not yet. She stays outside until the clouds cover the moon.

**Author's Note:**

> My first TAZ fic! I've been in the fandom awhile now, but I've been too busy writing for the Fallout fandom! BTW, my author's name means "Lady Flame" (roughly) in French! 
> 
> You can find me at Tumblr under @owlaholic68!


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